Man who threw worker to lions gets life

A WHITE farmer convicted in the murder of one of his former black workers who was thrown into a lion enclosure was sentenced yesterday to life in prison.

Mark Scott-Crossley and one of his employees were convicted in April of the January 2004 killing of Nelson Chisale in a case that shocked a nation still coming to grips with its apartheid past.

Mr Chisale, 41, had been fired two months earlier for apparently running a personal errand during work hours. When he returned to pick up some belongings, according to testimony at the trial, Mr Chisale was assaulted with machetes and tied to a stake. After being tied up and bleeding for six or seven hours, Mr Chisale was taken to the Mokwalo White Lion Project and thrown over the fence, screaming as the animals tore at his body.

Witnesses at the trial portrayed Scott-Crossley as a man with a history of aggression and violence.

Scott-Crossley, who was married by a magistrate yesterday morning before his sentencing, was led from the courtroom along with his new wife.

His attorney, Charl van Tonder, said the verdict and the sentence would be appealed.